The use of shin guards, knee pads, thigh pads, hip pads, rib guards, shoulder pads, elbow pads, biceps pads, forearm pads, gloves, neck guards, face guards, chin straps and guards, wrist guards, braces, and helmets is prevalent in a large number of contact and non-contact sports including soccer, football, hockey, baseball, volleyball, and in-line skating. Protective knee pads and helmets also enjoy widespread use in the construction industry, military, and in the field of transportation including bicycle, motorcycle, and sports automobile operation. Prosthetic devices such as back supports and wrist guards which can include conforming shields or pads are also widely used. Moreover, splints and casts are also sometimes used to stabilize and protect a portion of a wearer's anatomy.
Many articles of athletic and protective equipment include a hard outer shell made of leather, natural or synthetic rubber, glass or carbon fiber composites, thermoplastics, metal, and the like. Often, such articles will include a relatively soft inner liner of padding material which is made, e.g., of cotton, wool, natural or synthetic rubber, thermoplastic material, foam material, gas filled bladders, flowable solids or liquids, bladders including a moldable and curable material, or various textile materials. Most of these articles of protective equipment have relied upon the incorporation of generic norms or average shapes with regards to those surfaces contacting the anatomy in order to provide limited accommodation to the unique anatomical features and characteristics of an individual wearer. However, pre-formed structures of various kinds imperfectly accommodate a greater or lesser number of individuals depending upon the incorporation of characteristic norms in their design and fabrication. As every individual has different anatomical features and characteristics, a pre-formed structure will not accommodate every individual to the same degree.
Moreover, recent research has revealed that soccer players are at risk of chronic traumatic brain injury due to repeated heading of the soccer ball. The cumulative trauma has a degenerative effect similar to that which has been observed in boxers. It should be recognized that a soccer ball can travel at approximately 60 miles per hour and impact the head with a force of 175 pounds. The following studies have documented this phenomenon:    J. T. Maser et al., “Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury In Professional Soccer Players,” Neurology, 1998, September; 51 (3): pages 791–796.    A. T. Tysvaer et al., “Head and Neck Injuries Among Norwegian Soccer Players. A Neurological, Electroencephalographic, Radiologic and Neuropsychological Evaluation,” Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen, 1992, April, 10; 112 (10): pages 1268–1271.    A. T. Tysvaer, “Head and Neck Injuries In Soccer. Impact of Minor Trauma,” Sports Medicine, 1992, September; 14(3): pages 200–213.    A. T. Tysvaer et al., “Soccer Injuries to the Brain. A Neuropsychological Study of Former Soccer Players,” American Journal of Sports Medicine, 1991, January–February; 19 (1): pages 56–60.    A. T. Tysvaer et al., “Soccer Injuries to the Brain. A Neurologic and Electroencephalographic Study of Active Football Players.” American Journal of Sports Medicine, 1989, July–August; 17 (4): pages 573–578.    O. Sortland, et al., “Brain Damage in Former Association Football Players. An Evaluation by cerebral Computed Tomography,” Neuroradiology, 1989; 31 (1): pages 44–48.    B. P. Boden, et al., “Concussion Incidence in Elite College Soccer Players,” American Journal of Sports Medicine, 1998, March–April; 26 (2): pages 238–241.
There is then a need for a novel protective helmet for use in soccer which will at least partially attenuate the impact that takes place when a soccer ball is headed. Further, it can be readily understood that it would be advantageous that such a helmet closely conform to the anatomical features of the wearer's head and permit control of the soccer ball while heading.
There have been attempts to made custom molded articles of protective equipment having a permanent memory capability, in particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,780, U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,658, U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,376, U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,663, D381,131, D394,110, D394,112, D394,905, U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,077, U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,713, U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,678, U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,475, U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,693, U.S. Pat. No. 6,065,152, U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,626, U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,777, U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,195, U.S. Pat. No. 6,134,720, U.S. Pat. No. 6,152,892, U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,556, U.S. Pat. No. 6,226,795, D445,221, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,485 assigned to Parker Medical Associates LLC and/or Parker Athletic Products, LLC of Charlotte, N.C., all of these patents hereby being incorporated by reference herein.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,263 granted to James Hanrahan, et al. is directed to the making of protective padding. U.S. Pat. No. 6,065,152 assigned to Adidas, and also DE 3011566 A1 and DE 4403390 A1 assigned to Karl Uhl GmbH, are directed to making shin guards, and all of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference herein. Further, there are numerous patents directed towards the making of casts or braces held by 3M, that is, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company of St. Paul, Minn., e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,661, U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,877, U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,937, U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,502, U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,225, U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,726, U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,047, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,464.
In addition, the present inventor's U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,206, U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,580, U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,793, and in particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,057, include teachings relating to the customization of footwear components, all of these patents hereby being incorporated by reference herein. The present application is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/213,843, filed Aug. 7, 2002, which was a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/523,851 filed on Mar. 13, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,490,730 granted Dec. 10, 2002, which was a Continuation-In-Part of Ser. No. 08/862,598 filed on May 23, 1997, which was a Continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,057 which was granted on May 17, 1997. It was anticipated in the applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,057, column 37, lines 33–46, that the teachings contained therein with respect to the use of light-cure materials could be applied to the general subject matter of the present application. U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,376, granted to Amos Johnson et al., hereby incorporated by reference herein, teaches various custom prosthetic devices including light cure material having permanent memory. U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,340, granted to Carl Buck, hereby incorporated by reference herein, teaches the use of light cure materials in making casts.
The procedures and methods associated with many previous attempts to make custom molded articles of protective equipment having a permanent memory capability have been relatively complex, time consuming, expensive, or otherwise not amenable to mass production and use by the general public. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fast, easy, effective and inexpensive method of making custom molded articles of protective equipment having a permanent memory capability.